F1: The lavish lifestyle of McLaren racer Daniel Ricciardo.

 

This past year, F1 racing ace Daniel Ricciardo earned a good $32 million (Rs 237 crore) for the entire year, bagging a couple more million-dollar endorsement deals. This feat, based on Forbes, makes him the 48th highest-paid athlete in 2020. And if that might appear further down the order than you'd expect, remember that his net worth is estimated to be over twice as much.

So how does a jet-setting bachelor like Ricciardo spend his big bucks? The Aussie is known to keep a low profile and has spent most of his lockdown on his family farm back in Perth, where he was spotted riding a dirt bike and driving a buggy around a dirt track.

Ricciardo, known for his warm, jubilant nature and eight F1 victories (and 31 podiums), is not too distinctive from the guy alongside him. If the guy alongside him also lives in a tax haven, drives around in ultra-rare hypercars, stars in a Netflix documentary and likes to have his coffee with almond milk. Ricciardo might be the most chill dude on the grid, but he knows how to live it up.

Things that Daniel Ricciardo likes to invest his hard-earned money on:

1. He owns a mansion in Hollywood

Though Ricciardo might officially reside in Monaco (where he owns an ocean view property), he owns some pretty coveted properties across the world, including a Beverly Hills Bachelor Pad, slashes vacation home reportedly worth a nice Rs 66 crore. The McLaren racer has been quoted saying that LA "resonated with him&rdquo. The sufficient reason, we reckon. Particularly if you have a bit of that Red Bull cash lying around. The pad has views of the Pacific Ocean, and the Cold Water Canyon comes with a sun deck, a pool and a spa.

2. He co-owns a brewery in Nice, France

Never to comply with a stereotype; nevertheless, the Aussie does such a good brew after a lengthy day. He couldn't find one in Nice, which led him to co-found a brewery with his mate and Former F1 World Champion Jenson Button. Ricciardo tapped into France's growing craft beer market (one of Europe's fastest-growing ones) and can even be found serving the sporadic beer to guests at the Blue Coast brewer.

Blue Coast is expanding. Following Forbes, John Philips, a 25-year beverage industry veteran, has been brought in to take the organization globally, with the drink already being served across 250 upscale bars around coastal France. If you're in France, you know where to locate Ricciardo following the French GP concludes this weekend.

3. He owns cars. A number of them.

Any F1 driver worth his salt ought to have a few torpedo-like supercars in his garage, and Ricciardo doesn't disappoint.

The six monster machines and one hipster two-wheeler in Daniel Ricciardo's garage:

1. AN ASTON MARTIN VALKYRIE

Owning among the 150 Valkyries ever built automatically puts you in the ultra-rare league of extraordinary car owners. The Rs 25.9 crore (excluding taxes) hypercar from Aston is probably the most extreme vehicle they have ever made and is fashioned, in many ways, after an F1 car. Except that one isn't powered by a V6 hybrid but a beastly 6.5-litre V12 (with an electric motor employed for a power boost, technically qualifying it as a hybrid). With all carbon fibre and aerodynamic brilliance, the Valkyrie could be the closest to an F1 car that you could own in real life.

2. A MCLAREN 720S

Most company cars are generally shaped, such as a Toyota Camry. Not Ricciardo's, who drives an awesome blue McLaren 720s to work. Where he drives another, slightly faster McLaren, the 720s costs Rs 4.65 crore and comes with a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8 that creates 710hp (720PS) of peak power. Top speed goes around 341kph, but one must drive up to and including the F1-grade racetrack to hit that mark. Oh, wait…

3. PORSCHE 918 SPYDER

Another limited-edition hypercar, the 918 Spyder, kicked off the era of hyper hybrids that have been powered such as a fighter jet but had the mileage of a VW Golf. The vehicle costs nearly a million dollars (Rs 7.4 crore) and can hit 100kph from the standstill in 2.6 seconds. Among the few mid-engined cars from Porsche's stable, the Spyder remains a benchmark for the hypercar industry.

4. PORSCHE GT3 RS

No enthusiast's garage is complete with no GT3 RS. The race-spec sports car is a stripped-out 911, offering faster lap times, stiffer rides and limitless bragging rights. Coming in at Rs 2.3 crore, it creates 494bph of peak power and remains the precision driving tool to beat.

5. A TOYOTA HILUX

A 2006 Toyota Hilux happens to be the first car Ricciardo ever got. Something special from his parents, Daniel claims that the car was handed to him specifically due to its inability to be fast, what with it being truly a full-sized pick-up and whatnot. We're convinced Dan found a method to corner this flat out. Among the more modest cars that stay static in his collection even today, the Hilux costs approximately Rs 25 lakh.

6. ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE

Considering that the Valkyrie is a tad too extreme for everyday scenarios, it makes sense that Ricciardo keeps a far more pedestrian Aston Martin in the garage, one powered by a V8 and costs Rs 3.5 crore. The Word is that Ricciardo's Vantage went beneath the hammer recently, with the proceeds of the sale going to a charity dedicated to researching the inherited kind of Motor Neurone Disease.

7. AND A VESPA

That's right. To navigate Monaco's narrow streets, Ricciardo swears by his Vespa, which he is available to zoom about on after he's had his fill of speed.